Abstract
BackgroundQ fever, caused by Coxiella burnetii, is a zoonosis with great public health significance and can cause financial losses to animal owners. The knowledge of the epidemiology of Q fever in Egypt is limited. Reports on this disease are scarce. In 2012 and 2013, we carried out this investigation to estimate the seroprevalence of antibodies to Coxiella burnetii in dairy cows of nine farms located in the lower Egyptian Governorates of Dakahlia, Damietta and Port Said. 1,194 blood sera were randomly collected from apparently healthy Holstein Friesian dairy cows. The collected sera were tested by ELISA for Coxiella burnetii antibodies.ResultsAll farms tested positive with seroprevalences ranging from 2.9 to 26.7% on farms with less than 200 animals and 9.8 to 20.0% in farms with more than 500 animals. 158 cows (13.2%) had anti-Coxiella antibodies.ConclusionQ fever may be enzootic in the cattle herds investigated in Damietta, Port Said, and Dakahlia Governorates of the Nile delta in both smaller and larger herds. There is a need for further research on the impact of Q fever on both veterinary and public health. The results of this study should trigger more detailed epidemiological studies in ruminants as well as investigations into the etiology of atypical pneumonia and fever of unknown origin in humans.
Highlights
Q fever, caused by Coxiella burnetii, is a zoonosis with great public health significance and can cause financial losses to animal owners
Coxiella burnetii has been shown to infect a number of mammals, domestic ruminants especially sheep and goats are considered the main reservoir and source of human infection [4]
The present preliminary serological study included 1,194 apparently healthy Holstein Friesian dairy cows aged between 2 to 5 years on nine farms located in Dakahlia, Damietta and Port Said Governorates, Egypt (Table 1)
Summary
Q fever, caused by Coxiella burnetii, is a zoonosis with great public health significance and can cause financial losses to animal owners. Q fever, a zoonotic disease caused by Coxiella burnetii, was first described in Queensland, Australia in 1935, after an outbreak of “flu-like illness” among slaughter house workers [1]. Since that time, it has been reported in most countries throughout the world [2,3]. Coxiella burnetii has been shown to infect a number of mammals, domestic ruminants especially sheep and goats are considered the main reservoir and source of human infection [4]. The main route of human infection is inhalation of contaminated aerosols, or dust containing bacteria shed by infected animals while milk may play a role [5,6]. Coxiella burnetii can be excreted into the milk of infected animals for many months and even years due to local infection of the mammary gland [9]
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